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08 Secondary: The British Museum: inspiring art09British Museum Poster: Inspiring Art112 134 510 112 316 17 18 19The British Museum’s potential for exploring the human formin world art is unsurpassed. Here is just a taste of the diversityof the Museum’s collection: the abstract, the idealised and thenaturalistic, 2-D and 3-D images, carved, moulded and cast, instone, ceramic, metal and on paper. Sculptor Marc Quinn’swords are a testament to the Museum’s contemporaryrelevance: “My sculpture of Alison Lapper on TrafalgarSquare’s Fourth Plinth was part of a series inspired by being inthe British Museum and seeing how people reacted tofragmented Greek sculptures, with their limbs missing. Theysaid how fantastically beautiful they were, the greatest evermade, but if someone the same shape had come into the room,like Alison, they would have been embarrassed.”614 1578 9Key to poster:1. Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861). The Chinese warrior YanQing (detail). Colour woodblock print. Japan, c. 1827-1830.Loaned by Professor Arthur R. Miller (10044)2. Stella Steyn (1907–1987), Schematic figure, lithograph andrelief print on pink tissue paper, c.1933. © Estate of StellaSteyn, courtesy of the Gorry Gallery, Dublin3. Standing male and female pottery figurines. Mexico,200 BC–AD 5004. Ivory statuette of the Virgin and Child. Paris, France,c. 1310–13305. Nkisi figure made of wood, iron, nails, string, cloth andfibre. Democratic Republic of Congo, Late 19th/early 20thcentury6. Ancestral male figure with tattooed face and inlaid haliotisshell eyes. New Zealand, date TBC. Mid 19th century7. Tile depicting a female figure holding a bottle; ceramic,‘Kubachi’ ware; polychrome underglaze painted fritware,Iran, ca. 17008. Brass head of a ruler with a beaded crown. Ife, Nigeria,14th–early 15th century AD9. Silver votive offering in the shape of a hand. Syria, 20thcentury10. Painting on paper of a lady standing by a flowering tree.India, late 18th century11. Porcelain figure of Budai Hesheng. China, Ming Dynasty,148612. Colossal right foot made of marble. Roman, found nearNaples, 1st–2nd century AD13. The auspicious marks on the feet of the Buddha. From thestupa at Amaravati, southern India, 2nd century AD14. Painted wooden board of a figure. Papua New Guinea,20th century15. Red-figured amphora with twisted handles. Greece,c. 480 BC.16. Feather god head. Hawaiian Islands, early 18th century17. Standing figure of the goddess Tara. Sri Lanka, 8th–9thcentury AD18. Marble figure of a woman, Cyclades, Greece, about2800–2300 BC19. Michelangelo (1475–1564), Study for Adam in the fresco onthe vault of the Sistine Chapel, red chalk, c. 1511Except where stated, all photographs are © The Trustees of theBritish MuseumThe British Museum is launching a range of new taughtprogrammes and resources to support art and design atsecondary level and at AS/A2. Programmes include freegallery-based workshops combining discussion withmaking activities. The workshops will explore themes suchas Identity, Environments, Collections and Sketchbooks.Students will be encouraged to explore objects contextuallyas well as to make links with contemporary practice andsociety, so developing their ability to think laterally. Onlineresources will provide ideas for making the most of a visit tothe Museum and include downloadable presentations ondifferent themes and topics for classroom use. You can alsofind out about study days for older students and privateviews of new exhibitions. www.britishmuseum.org/schoolsBook reviewAfricanCaribbeanPupils in ArtEducationby Paul DashAfrican Caribbean Pupils in Art EducationPaul Dash, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2010,xvii + 223 pages, ISBN 978-94-6091-048-7This is a pioneering, hard-hitting book whichoffers no easy solutions to some of the mostprotracted issues relating to race and education inthe art and design classroom, faced by both pupilsand teachers. This work is clearly focussed on asingle theme, the learning of African Caribbeanpupils in art and design classrooms in the UnitedKingdom. The author brings to this study a wealthof personal experience and reflection about theclassroom. He also offers us the results of a surveyof children’s and teachers’ experiences which heundertook to expand his and our understandingof the dynamics involved in multicultural andethnically diverse classrooms, especially oneswhere black pupils form a significant majority.He also offers the reader some valuable resourcematerials and references that should enrich thesyllabus for all pupils.The author’s basic premise is that the slavetrade had a deeply damaging impact on thecultures of those who experiencedtransportation. As Dash writes, ‘the rupture ofthe slave trade has had a lasting often negativeeffect on the way they elaborate a sense of self andposition themselves in the world’. As a resultAfrican Caribbean cultures, deniedrepresentation, have become invisible. Dashlikens the slave trade to the Big Bang, an eventwhich echoes through the generations and stillhas a lasting legacy. Dash employs KamauBraithwaite’s concept of the ‘absence of ruins’ tocharacterise the artistic difficulty that AfricanCaribbeans face in seeking their cultural identity.This is particularly the case for the visual arts,where the link with Africa is virtually erased. Theauthor cites CLR James’ blunt statement, ‘We areBlack in skin, but the African civilization is notours. The basis of our civilization in theCaribbean is an adaptation of Westerncivilization’. But, Dash argues, despite theircontinual contribution to the development ofBritish imperial wealth, African Caribbeansremain, in an important symbolic sense,strangers or outsiders ‘looking into a differentworld of representation to which they are obligedto find an accommodation’. It is a world in whichmany black students feel ambivalent, and being‘Black British’ remains for them problematic bothat school and in the wider world of cultural andpolitical identity. Dash warns the teacher thatthese pupils may have scant interest in theCaribbean let alone Africa, and ‘Cuba is as alien tothem as Russia or Kurdistan’. What they reallyvalue is the recognition of Black achievement andhow this contributes to their own self-esteem.The author has a high distain for some of thenostrums operating today in schools to fostermulticulturalism. He has a particular dislike ofBlack History Month. As one of his intervieweescomments, ‘Black History Month isn’t muchabout black history’. Dash explains, Black HistoryMonth isolates black presence and makes itirrelevant, ghettoised. A few iconic figures arecelebrated but the larger hidden history of blackstruggle is neglected.Does this all mean that innovation incurriculum and meaningful pupil experience arecondemned to waste? Far from it. Dash makes thecase for African Caribbean students as therepresentatives of a new form of hybrid, creolisedculture. ‘They are living exemplars of ourpost-modern state’. As such they may make workin the art classroom which is outside teachers’cultural experiences, but, Dash argues, it is in anissues-based pedagogy that future progress forthe African Caribbean student lies. The authorsuggests that the black body represents for suchstudents a unique and potent source of expressivepossibilities. Whether it be in forms of walking,clothing or hair styling, new syncretic formsenable young people to create new expressivestyles that are decidedly aesthetic, fun and seriousmarkers of identity.The ‘absence of ruins’ provides cultural spacefor new art forms, whether it be the historicinventions encapsulated in Maroon combsdesigns, the Caribbean Surrealists, Lam andGreaves, the Caribbean Artists’ Movement of1966-1972, or the abstraction of Frank Bowling’spaintings celebrated in Rasheed Areen’s splendidexhibition catalogue entitled The Other Story.There is now, Dash reminds us, a vibrant recentart history for pupils to explore, interrogate andeven emulate. INIVA and Autograph provide avery valuable and accessible entry tocontemporary art such as the photography ofIngrid Pollard, the painting of Sonya Boyce andGavin Jantjes and the barbershop art of FaisalAbdu’ Allah. Despite the restrictive culture of theexamination syllabuses, there is a world of newartistic practice available for pupils to explore inthe classroom. And, Dash reminds us, there areboth MA and higher degree programmes now forteachers to engage with to help them deliver apedagogy that respects and promotes art relevantto the African Caribbean pupil, and incidentally,to all of us involved in exploring a postmoderncurriculum.This an excellent and challenging account andanalysis. I hope that, when reprinted, thepublishers will attend to better illustrations andan index.Nick Stanley, Research Fellow,Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas,The British Museum
10 Cross-phase11Above: Inside the EvelinaChildren’s HospitalOpposite: A gingerbreadman inspired by bookreading on a ward visitRuss Ventham isthe Ward TeachingCoordinator and theart and musicspecialist at TheEvelina Children’sHospital SchoolA typical day – if ever there is one – starts at theEvelina Children’s Hospital School with thesunshine streaming through the impressive glassatrium of the new hospital. Staff are gathering forthe initial meeting of the day – where the lists ofpotential pupils are collected and informationgiven by hospital staff is shared. No two days arethe same. The register of names changes daily andstaff check down their list of children to see whatthis ‘typical’ day might bring.The Evelina Hospital School is located in thelight and airy atrium of the Evelina Children’sHospital, opened in October 2005, just behindSt Thomas’ Hospital by Westminster Bridge.The building was designed in partnership withchildren and parents to give a state of the art openspace, housing a hospital filled with light andcolour.The school caters for pupils aged two to 19 and isorganised in three mini-schools – Dialysis School,Ward School, and Atrium School. Dialysis Schoolprovides education for children and young peoplewho attend dialysis treatment for up to four hoursa day. Many attend the school for three or moredays a week and some for many years. Ward Schoolis a mobile school which provides one-to-oneeducation by the bedside to children and youngpeople unable to attend the Atrium School. Pupilsattending the Atrium School join one of twoclassrooms – Sun or Moon. Sun Centre is an openplan classroom for children from early years to theend of Year 6 in primary school. Moon Classroomis for secondary aged pupils. Some pupils are herefor just one day, while others attend the school forseveral days. There are also pupils who stay forweeks, sometimes many months. Last year 1,500pupils attended the school.Working in a children’s’ hospital is a uniquelysatisfying job. Although there can be rare tragicmoments, the ward teacher is often there towitness a child’s first smile after surgery, or theirtentative first steps back to the classroom. To seechildren gain in strength and confidence after thedoctors have done their work is heart-warming.On this particular morning two ward teachersexamine their list. Amongst their group arechildren with a wide variety of special needsincluding pupils with cerebral palsy, children withdystonia and others suffering recurring seizures.There are young patients recovering from heartsurgery recently out of intensive care, childrenwith breathing difficulties and children withvisual or hearing impairments.Today’s group includes seven children withcomplex learning needs, five primary childrenattending mainstream schools and five secondarypupils studying for GCSEs. The teachers go to theward and meet with pupils and check with nurseswhen medical procedures such as physiotherapy,scans and visits to theatre might be taking place.Many pupils’ mobility is hampered by the medicalparaphernalia that is needed during theirtreatment such as oxygen masks, tracheostomies,intravenous lines, feeding tubes and cardiacmonitors. Despite such physical limitations,pupils’ resilience never ceases to amaze.Generally parents are at their children’sbedside. It is a useful time for teachers to chat withparents so that lessons can be tailored toindividual needs. Some parents are happy to stayand watch the lesson – curious to see how theirchild will respond to the new teacher in thisdifferent environment. Others take this time toleave the ward. Meeting and chatting on a dailybasis, parents of longer stay pupils often get toknow teachers well. This distraction from themonotony of the bedside vigil can often be verywelcome to anxious parents.Following the ward visits it is found that severalof the children with special needs would benefitfrom activities to help develop their fine motorskills, their concentration and their social/communication skills. An art activity linked toour current planned theme Autumn is devised:pupils select colours and use their hands toscrunch paper pressing it into shapes for a collage.Squeezing, patting and pressing are vital handexercises; listening to the scrunching tissue, anddeciding where things go, give the pupilsmulti-sensory experiences and presentchallenges to fulfil.Two of the secondary pupils are uncomfortablefrom recent operations. The ward teacher takesthem through a painting exercise usingwatercolours on damp paper, creating vividautumn leaf pictures. Some pupils draw anddecorate their autumn poems for display, whilstothers study the same topics as their home schools.Meanwhile in the Atrium School, early yearspupils are working on salt dough sculptures,creating their names and making gingerbreadmen inspired by the book they are reading. Theprimary pupils are in an ICT design workshopusing SketchUp, a Google 3D modellingprogramme, to create three-dimensionalbuildings.Secondary pupils attending Moon Classroomare exploring the hospital environment – takingautumnal photos to complete the photographyexhibition staged in the public area of the atrium.While art and design form part of thecurriculum, teachers also recognise thetherapeutic value of these activities. Children inthe hospital setting are often nervous, tense, inpain, and needing distraction and support. Artand design activities provide a way of taking the‘Although there can be raretragic moments, the wardteacher is often there towitness a child’s first smileafter surgery, or theirtentative first steps backto the classroom’mind away from discomfort and often in theirdrawings, children are given the platform to voiceworries and concerns. As the evening sunilluminates the glass walls and roof of the atrium,some excited children are packing away pyjamasand teddies for their journey home. Others arepreparing for another night in a hospital bed. Theteachers gather to reflect on the day’s experiences,to evaluate the children’s work and to display theartwork that has been created. The children’swork remains as evidence of another happy, busy,creative and healing day at the Evelina HospitalSchool.Russ VenthamA Life in a DayAt the Evelina Children’sHospital SchoolTeaching and healing in a hospital school
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